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River squealed when Lin teleported, taken completely by surprise, and she stumbled and fell into the bottom of the wagon. When Lin joined her with Andarien, she whimpered softly and pressed herself against her.

Andarien woke up at the jolt of teleporting with Lin, and he started wailing in terror, his face turning a bright red.

"Luk, in the wagon with the others," Arthael ordered her half-brother. He wasn't much good with a sword yet, so it was best if it looked as if he were defending the others at least.

Earendil, Daeron, Aethos, Luk and Arthael formed a protective circle around the wagons. The horses were tethered to the trees around the clearing, far enough away from them that no one could sneak up on them, but near enough that they could still defend them.

Luk hopped up in the wagon and looked down at the five who were hiding. There was fear in his eyes - it was clear he had never been in that sort of situation before, and he had little confidence in his own fighting skills.

"I don't know," River whimpered, curling up in a ball.

There was a rustling in the trees, and a group of humans appeared in front of Arthael and Halmir.

The two fighters tightened their grips on their swords, but there was nothing but anger in their eyes. This was strictly business for them.

One of the humans, when he saw them, stopped and pointed at Arthael with one gnarled finger. He was old, his hair gray and scraggly, and his movements were the movements of one who had a severe case of arthritis or something similar. His face was scarred, and though one eye was glaring with all the hatred he could muster, his other eye was nothing more than an empty socket.

"You," he growled in the common tongue.

Arthael's single eye narrowed and flashed with anger.

"I remember you," she said harshly. She changed her stance ever so slightly, as if she were preparing to charge him. "You took great pleasure in taking our children away from us. Torturing them. Starving them."

Shivers ran down River's spine. She had never heard her grandmother use such a tone of voice - it was a voice that could give her nightmares, if she didn't know how nice her grandmother actually was.

The human just scowled, and he tried to move forward, but his legs were weak and two of the men beside him had to rush forward to help keep him up.

"I were savin' our village," he said, his voice shaking. "We got nuthin' 'ere to be proud o', tha' gold were gonna save our 'omes."

Andarien was still crying, though his volume had gone down a bit. Despite Lin's rocking, he could feel that she was angry and it made him upset as well.

A few of the humans stepped closer to the group, and the elves moved closer together to form a better barrier between them and the wagons.

"If you want to save your village, try putting your energy into fixing it up," Arthael told them angrily. "The king's lack of attention isn't what's making it rot, it's you yourselves. It's your lack of attention. Yours!"

Suddenly there was a twang of a bowstring being released, and behind the wagons, there was a thud. Leilani, who had been watching their other side, pulled another arrow from her quiver and nocked it rapidly. They were surrounded on all sides now, and the circle was slowly closing around them.

Instead of making the humans stop and rethink their actions, the first casualty seemed only to give them more courage. One by one, they rushed towards the wagons, and in less than a second it was a full-out attack. Leilani picked as many off with her bow as she could before they came too close, and then she simply let her bow drop and pulled two long daggers or short swords from her sides and used them instead.

Aric was a blur, his movements so fast it was as if he was everywhere at once. Daeron and Earendil fought side by side, and even Kaito, who was only using River's wooden bokken, was doing what he could to keep the humans at bay. Arthael and Halmir worked together so fluidly that it was clear that they were used to fighting side by side.

From the wagons, Alena used her fire magic to help keep away any of the humans who came too close, while Luk mostly just tried to look threatening.

"Lin!" Earendil shouted above the noise. "Give Andarien to Luk and use Luk's sword!"

They needed another fighter, and Luk's sword was wasted on him.

Considering how empty the town had been the day before, there was an enormous amount of men attacking them at the moment. They came from every side, in swarms and waves, a never-ending tide.

Suddenly from the sky there came the sound of wingbeats, followed by a loud screech. Suddenly there was another dark elf among them, dual blades whirling - and then another, and then a night elf. There was another screech from the sky, and a white dragon divebombed the humans, killing half a dozen and scattering a score of them.

The humans began to cry out, and a few of them to scream, and within minutes those who were still alive had fled or were trying to flee.

As soon as it was safe, Earendil jumped over the dead and dying bodies of their attackers to Lin's side.

"Are you all right?" he asked her anxiously as the other couples also rushed to check on their loved ones.

Earendil himself had several cuts - a few on his face, and a rather nasty one on his arm - but the adrenaline hadn't yet worn off, and he wasn't feeling it quiet yet.

Kelirahc stood with his arms around Leyenda and looked around, surveying the scene around them. "It looks like we arrived just in time," he murmured, holding his wife close.

Celeb, all grown up now, was looking at the sky.